


A Matter of Choice

by Rioghna



Series: 7 Days, 7 Prompts [2]
Category: 101 Dalmatians - All Media Types, Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: A matter of Numbers!verse, F/M, Fluff, One Shot, Puppies, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Tumblr Prompt, rumplestiltskin needs a dog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-24
Updated: 2015-02-24
Packaged: 2018-03-14 22:06:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3427256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rioghna/pseuds/Rioghna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Day two- Seven Days, Seven Prompts.  Bardic-raven--brdy-diamond prompted. A Matter of Numbers - The adoption of the puppies, starting with Penny's conquest of her new pack.  So here it is, A matter of Choice, or how Rumplestiltskin and Belle got a dog ( or should I say, how a dog got Rumplestiltskin and Belle?)</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Matter of Choice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BardicRaven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BardicRaven/gifts).



A Matter of Choice

Archie Hopper had always been a dog lover, even before Pongo came into his life, but if anyone had ever told him he'd be sharing his home with seventeen of them, he would have suggested they book a therapy appointment. Of course, now that he had all the puppies, he wasn't entirely certain he wasn't the one that needed therapy. Having a dog was one thing, but raising fifteen puppies, even with the help of their extraordinarily intelligent parents, was something entirely different. 

Fortunately, he kept telling himself, it wasn't forever. At least some good things had happened. Rumplestiltskin, or Mr. Gold, depending on day, date and time, had given him a dispensation for having way over the lease limit of pets. "Just don't tell anyone, dearie, wouldn't want them to think I'd gone soft," the man had said as he sat on the psychologist's couch drinking his scotch with a puppy in his lap. Then there was Ruby Lucas. Thanks to what he was fairly certain was the deliberate interference of Pongo, and Perdita, not to mention the puppies, he had finally gotten around to asking her out. 

It had started with coffee on Granny's deck with the entire brood at their feet. Perdita had given her a good sniff over first, of course, but since Ruby was, in fact, a wolf at least at certain times of the month, it made good sense that the female dalmatian would want to check her out before letting the puppies near her. They had sat, and drank coffee while he told her the story that Rumplestiltskin had told to him. Ruby had spent the entire time snuggling one puppy after another, making certain they all got some attention. It had ended with Ruby volunteering to help him walk the lot of them, and that had led to dinner, brought by Ruby and eaten in his apartment. "Hard to get out with these guys," she had said. "I know you would starve if it weren't for Granny's cooking."

All in all, he was pretty happy with his life at the moment. Now he was starting to think about his next issue, homes. Fortunately, due to the small size of Storybrooke, none of them would be going far enough that they couldn't see their parents regularly, but still. Ever since his conversation with Rumplestiltskin, he had been more aware than ever of their intelligence and ability to understand him, Archie had been considering what this meant. After all, while he had always talked to Pongo, now he had started paying more attention to the dog's responses, and to Perdita's. 

Now, there were the puppies to consider. Finding homes for them that would please everyone, assuming that there wasn't a problem, was an issue he had on his mind for the last several days, especially since they were starting to wean. By the time the cricket had reached Granny's, he was fairly certain he was overthinking it all. Instead, he stopped to wait for Ruby to come out and help him walk them, something that had become part of their regular routine. 

Mr. Gold opened the door for Belle, before stepping out of the diner behind her. "Dr. Hopper," he greeted him. "And you too, of course," he added, addressing Pongo and Perdita with the same grave courtesy he addressed to most people as long as they didn't owe him money. Most people would have suspected him of being sarcastic, but Archie knew better. "And family," he added as the little female puppy named Penny shoved her way over, under, around and through the milling pack to arrive at his feet with a rhythmically beating tail. 

"Mr. Gold, Belle," Archie said.

Perdita, who had not been introduced to Belle, stepped forward and offered her a paw. Belle smiled happily and leaned over to accept. "Excuse me, Belle, I forgot that you and Perdita have not been introduced." In any place but Storybrooke, the entire thing would be ludicrous and entirely too precious, and people would have locked them all up, or been looking for the movie cameras, but this wasn't any other place. 

"It's a pleasure," Belle said. "And who is this?" The puppy, having gotten the attention of the sorcerer, was now squirming over to introduce herself to Belle, who carefully knelt down to address the puppies. Unfortunately or fortunately, the puppy, who had a rather even coat of regular sized spots, wasn't inclined to share the attention. 

"Her name is Penny," Archie supplied. Rumple gave him a sidewise look. "I cheated," the doctor explained. "I checked out the book again, found the names and read them off to see who answered. David ordered collar tags for them, should be ready by next week, and in plenty of time for them to start finding homes." 

They both nodded, but Penny didn't seem content, like her brothers and sisters, to sniff around once they had given cursory attention to the new arrivals. She wormed her way into Belle's lap, tangling the leash further around Rumple's good leg. Belle couldn't help but laugh as Archie blushed as red as his hair before trying, with some help from her love (and some active interference by Penny) to extract the leash. 

"Hey Belle, I think Penny wants you to come with us," the tall girl said, as she came out of the diner carrying two cardboard cups of coffee. The puppy barked once. 

"It would be lovely, perhaps another day. I need to get back to the library," she addressed the last to the puppy who she was still holding. Penny let out a wounded sigh. "Another day, perhaps." 

 

They said their goodbyes, and Rumplestiltskin walked his true love back to the library and returned to the shop for a quiet day repairing a rather intricate pocket watch that King Midas had found in the back of a drawer and wanted refurbished to give to his daughter's fiancé. At least that had been his plan. He was head down over the magnifier, brushing some dirt from the workings when he heard something funny. Shaking his head, he returned to his task, hoping to finish it in time to pick up Belle from the library. But right as he was about to take the tweezers to the inner workings to remove a rather large bit of...something, he heard it again. 

Sighing, he rose from his stool and looked around trying to figure out the direction of the sound. It hadn't come from the front of the shop, the bell hadn't rung. He moved to the back door, and looked out the window, but there was no one there. Before he could go back to his stool though, he heard it again, louder this time. He opened the door, and there, sitting on his back mat was a dalmatian puppy, the one that had been so fascinated with Belle, if he was any judge. 

"Miss Penny, what are you doing here, young lady? I am fairly certain that this is not where you are expected to be." The puppy just looked at him, and then walked in to the back room. "Let yourself in," he said, with only a slightly sour smirk. She was trailing her leash, and he was pretty certain that Ruby and Archie were probably frantic. Giving up his task as a loss for the moment, he picked her up, wrapped her leash around his hand so he didn't trip over it, and went through the front door, turning the sign as he went out onto Main Street. It took only a few moments to find the two frantic humans, and the slightly less than frantic parents, and return her. With that, he went back to his watch, and thought no more about it. 

Or rather he thought no more about it for a couple of days. Two days later, the bell in the front of the shop rang out, and he heard Henry Mills calling out for him where he was working on restoring a ring. "Hey Henry, what can I..." he started to greet him as he went through the curtain. Then he saw what the young man was holding. "Henry, where did you happen to get that dog?" he asked suspiciously

"It was waiting by your shop door. I think it's one of Dr. Hopper's, isn't...er..."

"She," he said with a sigh. This time, he was certain it was the same puppy. "Penny, you can't keep doin' this," Gold said to her. "You are going to give Archie a heart attack. Henry, could you please return her to Dr. Hopper?"

"Yeah, sure thing, but are you..." The puppy whined piteously. 

"He's probably worried sick about her," the pawnbroker said. "I'll call him to let him know that you are on the way." As he watched Henry carry her out, he sighed. He didn't need a puppy, really he didn't. There were so many things that he needed to do, it was the wrong time. Rumplestiltskin enumerated all the reasons as he made his way towards the old fashioned telephone in the back of the shop. 

 

The next time he saw the puppy, she was waiting for him and Belle when they returned to the shop after lunch at Granny's. "Oh, Rumple, look," Belle said, smiling as the little girl wagged straight up to his true love.

"Oh, no, not again," he said. "You can't keep doing this, lass," he said to her. The puppy was ignoring him in favour of licking Belle's shoe. This time.

"Keep doing this?" his love asked. 

"Third time, she keeps getting away from Archie and Ruby. Somehow she always turns up here," he said, trying to make light of it. But looking at the smile on Belle's face, he started to think that perhaps he was being a bit too hasty. After all, Penny was smart enough to make her way back to the pawn shop, not once but three times. Perhaps he might take it as a sign. 

"You are the one that said they were highly intelligent. Ruby was telling me that she wasn't sure how they were going to sort homes for them. I think this one has already chosen," Belle was smiling at him, that smile, the one that could get him to do anything, to promise anything.

"But..." he tried. 

"Rumple..."

"Very well," he acquiesced. After all, Belle was happy, and who was he to deny his true love? Yes, that was it, he was doing it for Belle, he told himself. "I'd best call Archie, not sure she's exactly ready to move in yet." He went into the back room to dial the cricket's number again for the last time, at least he hoped so. 

"Now," Belle whispered to the puppy. "As long as you don't chew my books, and you remember to share, we should be fine. Deal?"

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you, for those who are reading. Please do those lovely, lovely things that keep writer and muse happy, like commenting. If you notice the large quantity of dentist requiring fluff, there are two reasons, one, it's the prompts and two, I'm having a bit of life and it makes me need to write happy stuff. 
> 
> This is the last actually planned story for A matter of numbers, but if you have ideas for who and where the rest of the puppies should go, I'll be willing to entertain the idea, just leave it here or on tumblr at rioghna7.
> 
> Tomorrows is from the Daddy's Little Girl 'verse.


End file.
